ABSTRACT
It used to be a pretty well kept garden, perhaps overgrown a bit with weeds in some corners and underfertilized in others, but at least there was a sense that things were under control in the telecommunications sector. That dynamic of change has irrevocably altered the path of telecommunications development and requires a reexamination of the sustainability of telecommunications infrastructures in this new environment. Government institutions once had the comfortable position of oversight alone, playing the roles of customer advocate, business economist, financial analyst, social theorist, and infrastructure planner all at the same time. The common agenda that has been defined and enacted over the past 15 years in the global telecommunications sector has been the privatization of state-owned and operated assets and the opening of markets through liberalization.
